Cutbacks Cause Unrest at AIVD

THE HAGUE, 22/08/13 - Eighty intelligence officers are to lose their jobs at the AIVD secret service, public broadcaster NOS reported Wednesday.

Due to a 23 million euro cut on the secret service’s budget, 200 of the 1,500 jobs are to be axed. Among these are the 80 officers who collect and analyse information. The disappearance of this latter group of jobs has come as a surprise to a large portion of the AIVD staff.

Initially, it was announced that in the first instance the main cuts would be in the operational management and efficiency sector and not in the primary tasks of the secret service: The acquiring and processing of intelligence.

In the coming years, the AIVD has to cut a total of 70 million euros, or over one-third of its annual budget. This cutback has to be realised by 2018. The cutback will be introduced gradually. In 2015, the secret service will receive 23 million euros less than this year.

Unrest has arisen among the staff members of the AIVD intelligence and security service about the details of the cutbacks. The responsible minister, Ronald Plasterk, terms the unrest “understandable” but assures them that the cutbacks will be shaped in a “responsible manner.”